The six paramitas · Verse 27 of 37
Verse 27: The Perfection of Patience
Verse 27 of The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, the fourteenth-century Tibetan poem by Gyalse Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). It belongs to the section on six paramitas.
For bodhisattvas who desire a wealth of virtue, those who do harm are like a precious treasure. Therefore, without hostility, be patient with everyone. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to cultivate patience,
Free from any trace of animosity towards anyone at all,
Since any potential source of harm is like a priceless treasure
To the bodhisattva who is eager to enjoy a wealth of virtue.
For bodhisattvas who want to be rich in virtue
A person who hurts you is a precious treasure.
Cultivate patience for everyone,
Completely free of irritation or resentment — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
A facilitator's reading across the commentaries
HHDL's criterion cuts deepest — patience only counts when you could retaliate. The "harm-doer as treasure" economy (verse's own image) is unpacked identically by AB and KTGR: no adversity, no virtue-wealth. KS's third patience (unafraid of emptiness) links this verse back to 22–24.
GR Garchen Rinpoche · HHDL H.H. the Dalai Lama · AB Dr. Alexander Berzin · KTGR Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · KS Khenpo Sodargye · TC Ven. Thubten Chodron · KM Ken McLeod
What the teachers say
Garchen Rinpoche Drikung Kagyu
Patience begins with one's own parents — refrain from replying at all. The reward is invisible: the preservation of bodhicitta, guarded life after life. "Our benefactor is actually those who harm us." Then "joyful endurance": bear aching legs, heat and cold (Milarepa's austerities); vow a sleep quota (5–7 hours) and use the saved time for practice. Ultimately, emptiness reveals pain and pleasure equally without substance — the "enlightened joy" beyond both.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
H.H. the Dalai Lama Gelug
(Brief; opening garbled in source.) The substance: patience toward a superior imposing on us "is not the real thing" — real patience is forbearance toward an inferior who harms us when we have full power to retaliate.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
Dr. Alexander Berzin Gelug
Patience is not-getting-angry — at harmers, at practice hardships, at the difficulties of helping — and, citing the Dalai Lama, it is strength, not weakness. Distinguish person from act: no anger doesn't mean accepting destructive behavior. "Those with whom we can practice patience are great treasures." Notes the verse's word habit: meditation just is building beneficial habits.
Full commentary: studybuddhism.com
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Karma Kagyu
Four qualities of patience (pacifies anger, brings nonconceptual wisdom, generates love, ripens beings). Without harm-doers, patience can't be practiced at all — "whoever or whatever harms us provides the same opportunity for wealth." Story: Milarepa singing to the thieves who attacked him; one became a disciple.
Full commentary: dharmaebooks.org (Free ebook, trans. Suzanne Schefczyk.)
Khenpo Sodargye Nyingma, Larung Gar
Three kinds: bearing harm without anger, enduring hardship for the Dharma with joy, and facing emptiness without fear — so difficult that 5,000 monks walked out when the Buddha taught it. Deepest patience applies emptiness: harm-doer, harmed, and harm all empty — "who is going to get angry at delusions?" Shantideva: "No evil is there similar to anger, no austerity to be compared with patience"; the leather-soles image again.
Full commentary: khenposodargye.org (Free ebook PDF.)
Ven. Thubten Chodron Sravasti Abbey, Gelug
Winter Retreat vv25–28 talk · 2020 Six Paramitas talk.
Full commentary: thubtenchodron.org
Ken McLeod Shambhala / independent
Talk 10. Tricycle v27 (video/subscriber).
Full commentary: unfetteredmind.org (Tricycle's per-verse written commentary is behind a subscriber paywall.)
Further reading: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.